It’s ok.
There is something that’s been missing from my life these past few years: Art. Creating things. Expression for expression’s sake. I miss it.
For seven years, it was my job to create. While it WAS still work, and a more stifled outlet considering that I was limited in scope to what the clients needs were, the things I produced were born of me.
I don’t miss being a designer, but I miss the creative side of what now feels like my past life.
The problem with this is, basically, I suck at the cheap stuff and I’m too broke to afford the things I’m good at.
So… I need to either get better at the cheap stuff, or befriend someone with a kiln.
Yeah.
Art is expensive. Expensive to create. Expensive to purchase. And this is something I struggle with. My biggest struggle is that I don’t think a piece of work should cost an exorbitant amount. But then, most works are invaluable to the artist as they usually are one of a kind pieces - impossible to recreate. No matter how detailed the artist is, they will never paint the same stroke twice or carve the same line twice. Each piece is original, and as such, should have an original price tag. But I believe in accessible art. Art should be for the people… ALL the people, not just people who have deep pockets. I think that’s why I love etsy so much. People put their heart and souls into their work, and sell it, usually for a reasonable price so that others can enjoy their creations.
And yes… I know I’m rambling…
… but I started thinking about all this because of someones project I came across. This guy, who goes by the name Sighn, decided to carve 1 million of these:
Which I thought was neat. 1 Million. That’s a lot. Intriguing… why did the artist choose “its ok” as the theme? Why 1 Million? What will he do with them all?
It will take him 60 years to finish. 500 trees. He will sell all million carvings. For each one sold the Arbor Day Foundation will plant 1 tree.
At this point, I was thinking this was pretty neat and though the whole “why” question (that usually can’t be answered anyway) was going through my head I saw that the selling price per piece is $20. Not a huge drop in the bucket…
… and then I started doing the math.
twenty million dollars? And the site mentions that the price will go up over the years for inflation, so it will likely net more than twenty million. Regardless, it’s a pretty big amount. Granted, it is 60 years of his life. But twenty million (or more) dollars?
The truth is, I don’t know WHY it bothers me but it just does. I even feel guilty for questioning the intentions of the artist. We are all money driven to a certain extent, so there should be no problem IF the intentions of this project were anything but art for arts sake. But if your intentions WERE for the sake of the art (in this specific case) why charge at all? Or why not charge the cost of the wood? Why twenty million?
And then, I start to think… why not twenty million? Our society tends to base the worth of something on a dollar amount, so why wouldn’t the artist sell his life work for twenty bucks a pop?
And after that, I think… this hydrocodone cough syrup I just took is making loopy and I need to stop having an internal battle over art and finances. Aaaand, if I am going to have a cough syrup fueled “internal” battle I should probably not memorialize the occasion on the blog.
Meh. I guess all in the end… It’s ok. 